Mikko Rantanen has fallen back to Earth after explosion against Avalanche

After Mikko Rantanen went on a tear against the Avalanche that made it seem like the front office made a terrible decision in trading him, he has cooled back down as the Stars are down 3-1 in the Conference Finals

BY TRENT FINNEGAN

May 28, 2025, 11:27 AM

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It seemed like the ultimate worst case scenario for Avalanche fans when their former star, Mikko Rantanen, got hot at the wrong time and sent them home in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs a few weeks ago. The winger seemed that he could do no wrong as he scored 11 points in the final three games of the series to send the Avalanche packing early once again.

The final three games of that series sparked an insane five-game run for the Finnish star, as he recorded 17 points in a six game stretch spanning the first and second rounds of the postseason. He scored a hat trick in the third period of Game 7 to crush the Avalanche, then followed that up with another hat trick in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals against the Winnipeg Jets.

Avalanche fans were stuck wondering where this player was when they needed him in the second round of the postseason against the Dallas Stars in 2024, and were perplexed as to why general manager Chris MacFarland traded him weeks before the trade deadline instead of truly trying to sort out a contract extension.

In the nine games since he went on a terror and seemingly sent every puck that hit the tape of his stick into the back of the net, Rantanen has drastically cooled off and has been playing like the guy Avalanche fans remember all too well from previous postseason runs.

Just look at last year’s Western Conference Semifinals. In the four losses to Dallas, Rantanen had just two points and was a -7 in his time on the ice. Despite being one of the biggest players on the ice, he was constantly losing puck battles along the boards and not doing much in the defensive zone to help his team win.

While Nathan MacKinnon might not be great in the defensive zone, he at least shows up on offense in most of the high-stakes games to make his $12.6M AAV contract worth the Avs’ money. There’s a reason why MacFarland and the rest of the front office didn’t want to pay the Moose the same amount of money as Mackinnon, and the last nine games have proved their reasoning.

If you’re going to have two players be among the top-five highest paid guys in the league, you need both of them to show up when all the chips are shoved to the middle, not just one. While no one will ever know what Rantanen would’ve done with a new contract in Colorado, his performance for Dallas in the Conference Finals is giving a hint at what the Avalanche could’ve seen from No. 96.

Rantanen and the Stars are currently down 3-1 in the Conference Finals against the Edmonton Oilers. Game 5 is Thursday night from Dallas as they try and keep their season alive.